A Patient Portal and PROMs to Improve Health Problem Detection and Retention in HIV Care: The DRHIVe Study

Summary

Too often, people living with HIV (PLHIV) face challenges, including additional health and psychosocial problems, that complicate self-care, like medication-taking and medical appointment attendance. Healthcare providers are not always aware when patients face these difficulties. A 'patient portal' is an online application that can give patients access to their medical records, appointment reminders, and questionnaires to inform providers about their health and wellbeing. Patient portals in HIV care can help providers detect patient problems and improve care. At the McGill University Health Centre's (MUHC) HIV care service, a survey showed great interest in a patient portal among both PLHIV and healthcare providers. Yet, little is known on how best to integrate a portal in HIV care settings and ensure it is accessible to patients. This project will be conducted at the MUHC's HIV care service in Montreal, Quebec which has over 2,000 patients. Participating patients will log on to a patient portal through a smartphone application and have a calendar of their HIV care appointments, health questionnaires to complete (previously chosen by people with HIV and healthcare providers), reminders for both and access to educational material. HIV physicians will be able to see their patients' questionnaire results to discuss them during clinic appointments. The project's objectives are to better understand what is needed to successfully integrate a portal in similar HIV practices with diverse patients and learn how acceptable and usable it is for HIV patients and doctors. The project will also examine how patient portal use impacts satisfaction, attendance, and physician detection of specific health problems. Furthemore, it will consider how patient sex, age, and ethnicity influence the results. People with HIV, providers, and staff at the study site will be involved in decision-making about this project. Over its 5-year duration, knowledge will be gained and shared on how to expand portal use efficiently and equitably in similar HIV care centers.

Conditions

• Patient Portals
• HIV
• Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO)
• Screening

Interventions

OTHER

Patient portal with patient-reported outcome measure administration, appointment calendar and reminders, access to lab test results, and educational material

Patients in the intervention will be trained to register on and use the patient portal. The following portal features will be used and studied in this project: the appointment calendar, PROMs administration, reminders (e.g., for appointments), educational materials, and access to personal lab results. Educational materials in the portal will include information on what to expect during HIV clinic visits, how to interpret HIV lab reports, and instructional videos on using the portal. Prior to visiting their HIV physician, patients will have continuous access to several portal features (calendar, education, and lab results, if applicable), and receive reminders (within 48 hours) of their clinic appointment and to complete the PROMs. Physicians will acquire their patients' PROM scores via the patient portal and receive training on how to do so. Patients and physicians are expected to review the PROM results and consider them during each clinic visit.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Programme National de Mentorat sur le VIH et les Hépatites (PNMVH)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Portail VIH/sida du Québec

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

  collaborator OTHER

• Unité de Soutien SSA Québec

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Bertrand P Lebouché, MD, PhD · Department of Family Medicine, McGill University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SCREENING

Masking

NONE

Model

SEQUENTIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-12-31

Primary Completion

2029-12-31

Completion

2029-12-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations